Graduates, beware....

[tamborine]

Graduates have high debts....how do they pay them? With such debts, marriage, mortgages & children are disadvantaged.

[craft1948]

If you aren't confident that you can get a GOOD degree which in turn gets you a well-paid job you shouldn't go to uni.

[pastafreak]

The debts do not need to be paid until an income level...I think of around £18,000pa....is reached. It may also be written off if unpaid after a certain period-but I am not sure of this.

[hc4361]

If a graduate earns more than £15,000, then from next April they will have to start repaying their student loans.

This will automatically be deducted from their pay cheque by HM revenue & Customs, which will pass it on to the Student Loans Company.

Graduates repay 9% of everything they earn over £15,000, so someone earning £20,000 a year would repay £37.50 a month.

Read more: http://www.thisismone...e_id=52#ixzz0x56iNh6b

[snags]

Thank God graduate loans weren't available when I was studying as I'd probably still be paying them off. I got a small grant each term, worked two part time jobs and lived off baked beans and white sliced for the duration...

[hc4361]

snags, if you were anything like me, you spent a fair few evenings in the bar and at parties as well.

[snags]

Well... yeah... but I didn't enjoy it ;-p

[yelenots]

My daughter will be going into her final year next month. Fortunately she will not have too much debt we think around £7000 as she is doing a Dianostic Radiography Degree with the NHS and therfore they pay the tuition fees and she gets a bursary too which doesnt need to be repaid. The only thing she has to pay back is a reduced student loan. Hopefully she will have a job at the end of it to repay the loan.

[ChocolatChip]

Your daughter is very lucky yelenots not to have a huge amount of debt after leaving university. I am about to start a degree with good prospects and I know what I want to do in the future, but I will still leave with £20,000 worth of debt, and there is nothing I can do about it, I will still be working during this, and I am not the party-ing type. I am hoping to save as much as possible to pay back at the end, but £11,000 will already be spent on my tutition.
It's very fustrating that I will eventually work for the NHS, yet they will not pay for my university like they do for nurses, etc. But what can you do? This is what I want from life and I have to try to make the best of it.

[karenmac60]

Having a degree affords graduates job opportunities that others aren't fortunate enough to get. Not only don't they start working until they are into their 20s but they will end up in much higher paid jobs than those who left school and got jobs - they will also be more likely to afford to retire early and so have a shorter working life. I think a little bit of debt at the start of their careers is a small price to pay.

[craft1948]

My nephew is now a doctor after god knows how many years studying......as he has just accepted a post in Tuvalu I'd love to know how this government expects to get their money back....